When you are in a hole, the first step is to stop digging. New data shows the majority of the fossil fuel reserves within active fields and mines must stay in the ground to maintain a liveable climate.
The IEA has consistently boosted new oil and gas development. Now it's backing up the global call to stop the expansion of fossil fuel extraction.
Being a “leader” among laggards doesn’t cut it when we’re in a climate emergency – a crisis that the oil and gas industry has done the most to cause.
If the IEA is serious about helping governments sustainably tackle interlocking economic and climate crises, they have one more chance to prove it with their data: by making a 1.5-aligned energy pathway central to the 2020 World Energy Outlook.
As governments begin to unveil trillions of dollars in recovery support and stimulus, now is the time to break old habits – such as the USD 77 Billion in public money that the G20 is still spending annually to finance oil, gas, and coal projects.
The current crisis is a clear warning sign that, if governments leave the “when” and “how” of the end of oil and gas up to tumultuous markets, the outcome will not be good for either people or the planet.
